Lasting Impressions
by Megan Elaine
Summary: It's their seventh year. The year to make it or break it. Will everything go as hope? Or will everything go down the drain? Follow Lily, James, Remus, Claire, Ella, and Sirius through the thick and thin.


Chapter 1

To Hogwarts

"Bye sweetie, have a good year!" Bridget Evans exclaimed. She was about five foot eight inches with flaming red hair, blue almond-shaped eyes and did I mention she was thoroughly crushing her daughter in a hug?

"Mom…stop…need…air!" gasped her seventeen-year-old daughter, Lily. Like her mother, she had flaming red hair, but her eyes were a piercing green. She desperately tried to pull away, but failed miserably. After quite a few more moments, her mother reluctantly let her go.

"Don't forget to write," Mrs. Evans told her youngest daughter, eyes glistening with tears.

"I do every year don't I?" Lily answered with a small grin.

Yes, of course you do, but still, don't forget. I always love to hear from you. You'd better hurry; you only have about 15 minutes. Bye sweetie, I love you!" she said as she gave Lily another hug and a kiss on the cheek before ushering her towards the platform.

"I love you too. Bye mum," she said as she pushed her trolley through the barrier.

On the platform, Lily couldn't help but smile as she saw the steaming train; it gave her a sense of relief to be going to her second home. She also had a sense of dread since this would be her last year at Hogwarts. Going back truly was bittersweet.

"LILY!" She whipped around as she heard someone shriek her name.

"Ella!" Lily replied as she hugged one of her best friends. "How have you been? I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too. I've been good. How has your break been? Have you talked to Claire lately?" Ella asked, seeming anxious.

"Not since she left for Paris, but I'm sure she's fine. So how was your break? You got some good color," Lily was right. Elleandrea- Ella for short- had gotten a deep, golden tan. She stood five foot six, and had bright blue eyes and blonde hair. Her hair fell to the middle of her back in perfect spiral curls.

"Yeah, my brothers and I were outside quite a lot this summer. It was mostly just me and Bradley because Jordan just got out of the Auror Academy. He's been really busy." Ella was grinning from ear to ear and fairly glowing. She loved to talk about them because they were extremely close. Bradley was a fifth year, and also in Gryffindor.

"I wish my sister and I got-"

"ELLIE! LILY!" The two girls whirled around as a shorter girl slammed into them. The other girl had brown, wavy hair. She also had warm chocolate brown eyes.

"Oh, I missed you both so much!" she exclaimed, still holding the others in a firm hug.

"Claire! Oh my goodness I missed you!" Ella said once she was free. "Why haven't you owled me?" she asked with her hands on her hips.

"Hey, Claire! I missed you too, and ditto Ella. What'd you do, disown us?" Lily said with a smile.

"Well my mom only told me we were going to Paris for two weeks. She ended up surprising me and we were there for four! We had so much fun, and it was so pretty! And well," Claire began to fidget and look at her feet. "Lucy died," she said sadly. Lucy was her barn owl. Claire had loved her very much.

"Oh, Claire! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, Claire. I'm so sorry." Lily and Ella said at the same time.

"It's okay. Oh my gosh! I love both of your outfits," Claire exclaimed. Both girls did look very cute in their summer clothes. Lily had on white Capri's with a white and blue stripped Polo. Ella was wearing Bermuda jeans and a white tank top.

Ella started to giggle and twirled around like a model. "You like?" she asked before collapsing into uncontrollable laughter.

"Hey, you two, we can giggle and talk about fashion later. We only have about 9 minutes to get onto the train. Let's go!" Lily said as she started to drag her trunk towards the train.

Ella was the first to pull her trunk on the train. After a little help from Claire, she set out to find and empty compartment. Claire and Lily pushed Claire's trunk up the steps together. Both the girls went back one the platform to get Lily's trunk next. They were halfway up the step's when Claire squealed and ran back onto the train. This sudden movement caused Lily to fall backwards on her bum and her trunk to slide down the steps with a THUMP.

She couldn't help but laugh and mutter, "Great," to herself. At that moment, a black haired, bespectacled boy appeared, seemingly from thin air, and offered her his hand. "Fantastic!" she muttered again. Grudgingly, she grabbed it and allowed him to help her up.

"Thanks, Potter," Lily said to him. She turned away and tried to push her trunk up the steps.

"Here, let me help you," James Potter said as he easily pushed her trunk up the steps.

"You know, I'm not completely helpless!" she said looking a little flustered. Lily turned around and started to drag her trunk in the direction that her friends headed.

She was about three compartments away when the train jerked forward. The sudden shift caused an unprepared Lily to trip backwards over her trunk. For the second time in a span of 10 minutes, she was sprawled on the ground.

"I think the floor has a crush on you. I know you're crazy about me, Lily, but the expression is 'falling all over me' not 'falling all around me,'" James chuckled. Lily sat up to see him leaning on the floor frame of his compartment. He'd been talking with the rest of his little group when he saw her take a spill.

She stood up and brushed herself off. "Oh, very funny, Potter," Lily said, each word dripping with sarcasm. Before he could say anything more, she took off to her own compartment and slammed the door closed.

"Hey, where have you been? You look ready to kill, what….oh." Ella smirked. "James?"

"Ugh, yes 'James.' That idiot makes my blood boil! Oh and thank you so much for running away, Claire!" Lily paused in her angry tirade for a moment, "What happened anyway?"

Claire blushed magenta. "Well…I…um… I saw Remus."

"Yeah, it was really funny. She ran in here like there was no tomorrow!" Ella said through her giggles.

Lily bit back a laugh. "Well, after you ran off, my stupid trunk slid back and I fell flat on my arse. Of course, to make things worse, Potter pulled me up and pushed my trunk up the steps!" She paused as Claire held up her hand.

"And that's a bad thing why?"

Lily would never admit it, but he was just being polite.

_But this is Potter! _She thought. _James Potter, a marauder, who pranks everything and everyone. He is rude and obnoxious, and has had more detentions then I can count! Why is he suddenly being…mature? _

"Because!" Lily spluttered, "I don't need him to do anything for me! But wait, it gets better. When I was almost here the train started and I was thrown off balance. I'll give you three guessed whose feet I ended up at!" She said bitterly as she sat down.

Ella and Claire couldn't contain their laughter anymore. After a few moments Claire stopped and looked at Lily. "Firstly, I think you're so mad because you embarrassed yourself in front of James! Secondly, come on! How can you not think that's completely hilarious?"

"I really don't care what I do in front of James as long as I have clothes on. Sure, it was kind of funny, but not I'm-going-to-die-laughing like you two seem to think," she told them as she shot them a mock glare. "I still don't even know who head boy is. Oh no! I'm going to be late for the Prefect meeting, I totally forgot!" Lily got up and fairly sprinted to the Prefect carriage.

When she walked in she saw Remus and James talking. "Sorry to break up the party, but we have a meeting in a few minutes. Potter, please go back to your own compartment."

To her surprise James just sat there and smiled at her. "Well you see Lily, I could skip this meeting, but then I wouldn't be doing my duty as Head Boy."

"WHAT?! Dumbledore made you…" she spluttered, staring wide-eyed at him. When he just sat there quirking an eyebrow at her, she clapped a hand to her forehead, "It's finally happened," she moaned, "Dumbledore's gone completely insane!"

"Aw, come on Lils, Dumbledore's as sane as ever, it's a great decision," Remus said with a grin.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!" she said loudly.

"Nope. I, James Potter, am Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 's Head Boy!" James told her with a proud grin.

Lily exploded. "HONESTLY! Who in their right mind would make _you_ Head Boy?"

James just smiled sweetly and said quite calmly, "We already established that, remember? Professor Albus Dumbledore."

Lily honestly didn't know what to say and settled on a disapproving glare.

An uncomfortable silence filled the compartment. It stretched on and on, until a knock at the door interrupted.

James got up and said, "Well, as much as I'd love to sit here for the rest of the ride, I believe we have a meeting to run."

Throughout the meeting, Lily continued to throw glares his way. James caught her a few times and just smiled back politely. He was surprisingly well behaved; he didn't just sit there, he actually participated and helped Lily.

Lily was gathering her things after the meeting when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whipped around only to come face to face with James.

"Erm… Lily... can I ask you a question?" His eyes were fixed on the ground.

"You just did. Goodbye, Potter," Lily said over her shoulder as she left.

Once she got to her compartment, she slammed the door, threw down her bag, and sat down. Spotting a pile of chocolate frogs, grabbed one and ripped off its head.

"Well, you sure know how to make an entrance," Ella chuckled.

"Alright, Lily, let it out. If you don't you might just burst!" Claire said, half joking and half serious.

"You will never guess who made Head Boy!" Lily ranted on without waiting for a reply, "How did JAMES BLOODY POTTER make Head Boy? That rude, obnoxious git!" By this point, Lily wouldn't have been surprised if steam was emitting from her ears.

"Hate to burst your bubble, Lils, but James does have the best grades besides you," Claire told her around a mouthful of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum.

"UGH!" was Lily's frustrated reply.

"Oh, don't worry about it Lily!" Ella told her.

Out of nowhere, Claire started to jump up and down. "Guess what girls!"

"Huh?" Ella asked while inspecting her nails.

"What?" Lily said while eating yet another Chocolate frog.

"TO HOGWARTS!" Claire shrieked as she jumped up and thrust an invisible sword in the air. Lily and Ella exchanged glances before they burst out laughing.

"Claire what would we do without you?" Lily asked, nearly choking on hysterical laughter.

"Hey, what can I say? I'm warm and bubbly!" Claire said as she began to giggle herself.

For the rest of the trip, the girls lounged around in their compartment, gossiping about boys, and exchanging summer stories. For the most part, their summers had been wicked; the only problem with Lily's was her stick-in-the-mud sister, Petunia. After Lily vented her anger, they started on the topic of boys again.

"Oh my wow! Did you two get a look at Sirius?" Ella asked as she blushed crimson. "If he wasn't such a man whore I would actually accept his invites to Hogsmeade." All three girls burst out in laughter at the mere though of Sirius having just one girlfriend.

"All right, let's get serious! You know I was looking at the person next to him!" Claire began to laugh before she realized what she said. She slapped her hands over her mouth and gasped, looking utterly horrified. Behind her hands she muttered, "Oops." She'd never admitted her feelings for Remus.

Ella's eyes lit up as a smile crept across her face. "Two words, Claire. Spill. Now."

If they thought she was red before, it was nothing compared to the crimson flush creeping across her face. Claire muttered something inaudibly.

"Come on, Claire, we're your best friends, you can tell us anything," Lily said, barely holding her excitement inside.

Claire gave a huge sigh and a small smile. "I like Remus. He is so nice and smart and-"

"And standing outside our door," Ella told the two just as they heard a small tapping noise. After Ella and Lily motioned for Remus to enter, he took a seat next to Claire. She immediately shot up and left muttering something about a bathroom.

"I'd better go see if she's ok," Ella told them as she got up and bolted after Claire.

Lily couldn't help but notice how tired and pale Remus was. "Full moon coming?"

"Yeah, in two- wait. How did you know?" He asked her, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"I noticed you always got sick every month around the same time of the month. Besides, your aunt can only get sick so many times," she said with a warm smile.

"How long have you known?" he asked curiously.

"Since fifth year, and don't worry. I haven't told anyone and I'm not planning on it," Lily told him, continuing to smile.

"Thanks, Lily. I…I've always wanted to tell you but I wasn't sure how you would react." Remus seemed a little ashamed.

"Don't worry about it. I would never of treated you different or anything," Lily got up and gave him a hug.

"Do you know about James, Peter and Sirius?" He wondered if he'd given too much away.

"I've had suspicions. Am I about to find out where their nicknames come from?" She asked.

"Okay, but you can not tell a soul about this, okay?"

Lily nodded in agreement.

"Well, they felt bad about me being alone through my transformations, so they began researching in third year. Well…erm… in fifth year they became illegal animagi."

"Wait, so they're breaking the law?" she asked, thoroughly shocked.

"Yes, and Lily you can't tell anyone! They could get in so much trouble!" Remus said in a panicky voice.

"Okay, fine. But isn't what they did really difficult?" Lily asked; she was becoming more and more interested in this whole animagus business.

"Oh, yes, definitely. It took them till fifth year."

"So what did they each become?" Lily asked excitedly.

Remus hesitated, looking at Lily. He seemed to come to a decision and said, "Peter's a rat, Sirius is a huge, black shaggy dog, and James is a pure white stag."

"Wow, that's…that's really amazing," Lily said slowly. She glanced out the window. "We'd better change into our robes. I think we're going to be at Hogwarts soon," she said turning to open her trunk.

"Alright, I'll see you at the feast. Oh, and Lily?"

"Yes?"

"Does- does Claire really like me that much?" He stuttered out, blushing furiously.

Lily chuckled and replied, "That's an understatement."

"Okay… I- I think I'm going to ask her to the next Hogsmeade," he told her, blushing even darker.

"That's excellent Remus! Well I'll see you later," she said with a small wave.

"Alright, bye." Remus turned around and went back to his own compartment.

Once he was out the door, Ella and Claire came bounding back in. "What happened?" Claire asked immediately.

"Nothing," Lily answered in a mysterious tone.

"Don't pull that, Lils! Tell me this instant!" Claire demanded firmly.

"Honestly, we just talked a bit," she told them. After a few moments she turned and said, "Oh, and someone might have a date to Hogsmeade," she said, giving Claire a significant look.

"Are you serious?!" Claire squealed out.

"You'll just have to wait and see," Lily told her.

"That was borderline evil!" Claire exclaimed.

"Come on girls, let's get changed," Ella said to the others.

Once the train stopped, they rushed to the carriages. Lily gave a sigh of relief when she saw one carriage left with no one else rushing towards it. She opened the door and groaned. "Potter," she said coldly.

"Why hello, ladies! Would you three care to join us?" he asked brightly.

"We don't really have a choice now do we?" she snapped as she grudgingly followed Ella and Claire. Ella had sat between James and Sirius while Claire blushingly sat between Remus and the wall. Lily groaned inwardly as she shoved herself between James and Ella.

"So, Ella. You look good today," Sirius said as he put his arm around her waist.

"Oh shove it, Black!" Ella told him as she wiggled closed to Lily.

The seven sat extremely squished and silent. That was until…

"So… How was everyone's summer?" James asked.

"Dandy," was Lily's sarcastic retort.

The uncomfortable silence returned. Finally, the carriage jerked to a stop and the seven piled out.

The girls separated from the other four as quickly as possible and hurried into the Great Hall. They all sat down, thoroughly famished. After the sorting, Dumbledore got up to speak.

"To all the first years, welcome to Hogwarts, and to all the returning students, welcome back! Now, I'm sure you're all ravenous after the train ride, so, without further ado, Tuck In!"

Immediately, the four House Tables were piled high with every type of food you could imagine. Lily felt her empty stomach twinge as she remembered that this would be her last Start-of-Term feast. She shook those thoughts out of her head, this was no time to get depressed. She managed to grin and started to fill her plate.

Once everyone had eaten their fill of the excellent food, Dumbledore stood once again. "Now, I know you're all happily dreaming of your nice warm beds, but before you go, first years, as well as…some others," A few students turned to shoot James and Sirius pointed looks, "might find it beneficial to note that the Forbidden Forest is, as you might have guessed, forbidden, meaning out-of-bounds. Get some rest tonight, and I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning. Oh, and I need to see the new Head Boy and Head Girl in my office."

Lily exchanged confused looks with Claire and Ella then shrugged and started toward the Headmaster's office. James fell into step with her, and Lily felt a sense of dread creep over her.

_It won't be anything bad, _she tried telling herself. Even so, her apprehension grew with every echoing step.


End file.
